INL Digital Edition Dec 15 2018

12
DECEMBER 15, 2018
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Allegations and denials
The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999)
ISSUE 406 | DECEMBER 15, 2018
Bullying at the top must stop
The State Services
Commission is currently
investigating complaints
of bullying against former
Retirement Commissioner Diane
Maxwell and Parliamentary
Services is looking into similar
allegations against National MP
Maggie Barry.
In both cases, former or
existing staff members have filed
these complaints.
Recorded allegations
Ms Barry said that Parliamentary
Services has cleared her
name, while one staff member
has denied this. Ms Maxwell has
been forced to go on leave, while
Ms Barry seems to be gathering
support from other members of
her staff.
In the case of Ms Barry, there
are tape-recordings which
apparently testify the complaints,
in some places the MP using foul
language.
Then there is another debate
whether she allowed her staff
to record the proceedings of her
meetings with staff.
What is going on?
The British Scene
Bullying staff appears to be
becoming a common practice
by lawmakers in many parts of
the world. In Britain, following
a revelation by BBC, Andrea
Leadsom, Leader of the House of
Commons has proposed to conduct
an inquiry into allegations
of bullying.
“I will propose that the inquiry
should hear from past and current
staff members about their
experiences and help to provide
them with closure wherever
possible.”
As BBC mentioned, her wording
was a little vague.
It is also the case that the House
of Commons Commission, the
panel that runs the House, would
decide on the terms.
“The whitewash is coming,”
BBC announced.
Independent Review
In New Zealand, Parliamentary
Speaker Trevor Mallard has
launched an independent review
into bullying and harassment of
staff at Parliament, saying that all
political parties have problems in
this area.
Consultant Debbie Francis
will conduct the Independent
Review to find out whether any
harassing or bullying of staff has
occurred since October 2014, the
start of the last Parliament. It will
cover MPs, staff and contractors
in Parliamentary Services and
the Office of the Clerk. At least
3000 personnel, including former
staffers, in Parliament or in electorate
offices around the country,
who have left since 2014 will also
be covered.
We welcome the Independent
Review. It is time erring politicians
are brought to account.
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Hand of friendship
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We also seek the hand of our
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meeting the challenges of the
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rock Maggie Barry
Craig McCulloch
The former staff member
who has released recordings
of National MP
Maggie Barry rejects any
suggestion he taped her secretly
and says she asked him to do so.
But Ms Barry flatly rejects that
and is backed up by another person
who used to work in the same
office and who says she feels
“betrayed and violated” by the
recordings.
The North Shore MP has been
under scrutiny after revelations
Parliamentary Service had received
bullying complaints from
two of her former staff.
Taping and denial
One of the ex-employees has
told media Ms Barry belittled and
swore at staff and told them to
do political work on the taxpayer’s
time. The former staffer has
provided media, including RNZ,
with recordings of some private
conversations in a bid to back his
claims.
Ms Barry has denied all the allegations
and says she’s “uncomfortable”
at having been recorded
without her knowledge.
But the former staff member,
who did not want to be named,
said Ms Barry had been aware he
was taping the meetings.
“Any allegation that I was doing
some secret recording is absolutely
false. She told staff to
record her - and I wasn’t the first
staff member to record her, other
staff members recorded her. She
told us that was a good idea because
then she could go off to another
meeting and we could go
back and check the tape,” the staff
member said.
He’d also been told by
Parliamentary Service to “document
interactions” with Ms Barry
after he lodged a complaint, he
said.
‘Simply false’
But Ms Barry, who used to
host the television programme
Maggie’s Garden Show, said she
never gave the staff member permission
to record her.
“I did not know I was being recorded
during the conversations
which have been released and
did not give anyone permission
to record me for their own purposes
or to record my conversations
with other staff members
who were also not aware they
were being recorded,” she said in
a statement.
“It is simply false to say
otherwise.”
A different former staff member
- who also asked to remain
anonymous - agreed that employees
were not asked to record
meetings.
“I feel absolutely betrayed and
violated that private and sensitive
conversations in the electorate
office were recorded without
my knowledge or permission,”
the former staffer said in a statement.
On occasion I would record
[Ms Barry] if she was dictating a
letter that I’d have to type up or if
she was doing a media interview
but this was always done overtly
and I didn’t record meetings. I
National MP Maggie Barry (Picture for RNZ by Rebekah Parsons-King)
had absolutely no idea that was
going on.”
Distressing experience
She said it was “really distressing”
to discover she’d been recorded
without her knowledge
and she had contacted both
Parliamentary Service and the
Privacy Commissioner for help. I
have no idea what other recordings
he has and what they might
say or how they might be taken
out of context.”
‘Jekyll and Hyde stuff’
On Tuesday (December 11,
2018), Ms Barry told media a
workplace investigation into
two complaints had cleared her.
National leader Simon Bridges
also defended his MP, saying
that Parliamentary Service had
found there was no bullying or
harassment.
But the aggrieved ex-staffer
believes Ms Barry “absolutely
had not been cleared” by
Parliamentary Service.
He said that the workplace investigation
made no findings
about bullying in his case and had
simply concluded there had been
a breakdown in the relationship.
The staffer was uncertain of the
outcome of a second complaint by
a co-worker.
Party work
He said he had approached the
media because he believed Ms
Barry should not be allowed to
remain in a position where she
could bully staff.
“She would swear at me and
blame me for mistakes she had
made ... she would call staff stupid,
tell them that she couldn’t believe
they’d been given a degree,
she’d talk about their sexuality
behind their back,” he said.
“It was Jekyll and Hyde stuff. It
was terrifying at times. It rocketed
from absurd one moment to
terrifying the next. She would be
absolutely lovely and then a small
thing would trigger her and she’d
be absolutely furious, just red-hot
fury.”
He also said “about 50%” of
the work he did was Party work
despite that being against the
law. For example, he wrote columns
which campaigned for
then-Northcote candidate Dan
Bidois and created brochures for
a National Party conference.
“The very first piece of work
that I did on my very first day was
to create her email newsletter
which campaigned for Dan Bidois
... and which also asked people to
join the National Party.
“We collected membership
funds, people would pay their
membership dues at the electorate
office ... she would solicit
membership from the office.
Unlawful act alleged
RNZ has seen text messages
which appear to show Ms Barry
requesting the staffer carry out
political work during office hours.
‘I wasn’t bullied.’
The former staffer who supports
Ms Barry said she had never
been bullied by the MP in the six
years she had worked with her.
“Maggie has high standards.
She will tell you if something
needs doing again and she’ll
thank you for a job well done,”
she said in a statement.
The staff member said it was
reasonable for politicians to demand
honesty, appropriate behaviour
and a good work ethic
from the people they employ.
“I was not bullied - verbally,
psychologically or physically.”
Ms Barry denies
On Tuesday (December 4), Ms
Barry told media she was not a
bully and invited those speaking
to the media to file formal
complaints.
“I create a positive environment
for all staff. I have high expectations
of myself and of my staff,
but I believe that you always treat
people with respect. That is what
I have endeavoured to do in all of
my workplaces over a long period
of time, she said.”
Ms Barry said she never asked
Parliamentary staff to do National
Party work. She said some people
chose to do Party work in their
own time, but she never asked
them to do so.
She had asked Parliamentary
Service to look into the matter of
secret recordings, she said.
“It is a little odd and unfair having
to answer allegations anonymously
and also to be taped
without my knowledge,” Ms Barry
said.
Craig McCulloch is a Political
Reporter at Radio New
Zealand. Indian Newslink has
published the above Report
and Picture under a Special
Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
Related Reports appear under
Homelink, Businesslink
and Viewlink. Please read our
Editorial, ‘Bullying at the top must
stop,’ under Viewlink.